How to boost your self-confidence

When you are about to embark on a new enterprise — for instance, if you have enrolled at Commits for the two-year full-time M.A. degree course in Mass Communications — you may feel anxious, nervous, antsy during the first few weeks.

Of course, this jitteriness is temporary. But, perhaps, that is no consolation in those overwrought early days. So is there something you can do to calm those nerves and restore your self-confidence? Yes, says Mary Mitchell, the founder of a U.S.-based executive training consultancy. Mitchell, who is the author of the "Modern Etiquette" column for Reuters, offers a list of five simple steps that you can take to up your confidence quotient:

1. Move.
2. Take a look at what you are wearing.
3. Breathe.
4. Be disciplined.
5. Give and receive.

Mitchell elaborates on each of these steps here: "Five suggestions for greater self-confidence".

Yesterday I sent out the link to Mitchell's column to our new students, whose Commits journey began just four days ago. Here are two responses I received soon after:

• These suggestions are indeed extremely useful and I will use all of them to increase my efficiency. I just loved the quotation with which the piece ended and I will definitely apply in my work what I have learnt from it. — DIYOTIMA ROY SINHA

• This article was really very helpful and motivating... and it is sure to help us in the long run. — NINNITA SAHA

Outstanding Indian women journalists who are also excellent role models

Shahnaz Anklesaria Aiyar Sreerekha B. Sheela Barse Sheela Bhatt Nilanjana Bose Tiamerenla Monalisa Changkija Neerja Chowdhury Sucheta Dalal Vinita Deshmukh Barkha Dutt Sabeena Gadihoke Charu Gargi Shohini Ghosh Pushpa Girimaji Rehana Hakim Bano Haralu Devaki Jain Sonu Jain Shikha Jhingan Shalini Joshi Sabina Kidwai Vasavi Kiro Madhu Purnima Kishwar Manimala Ranjani Mazumdar Patricia Mukhim Disha Mullick Rupashree Nanda Sunita Narain Sakuntala Narasimhan Sevanti Ninan Pamela Philipose Anita Pratap Alka Raghuvanshi Usha Rai Teesta Setalvad Kalpana Sharma Shubha Singh Tavleen Singh Priti Soni Chitra Subramaniam Annam Suresh Ratna Bharali Talukdar Shikha Trivedy Homai Vyarawalla

In addition to having worked on stories that have had an impact — and made a difference — all 46 women journalists in this list have one thing in common: They are all winners of The Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women Mediapersons.

That is not all. Their stories of reportage have now been compiled in a book edited by veteran media professionals Latika Padgaonkar and Shubha Singh. Making News, Breaking News, Her Own Way is highly recommended reading for not only journalists, but also media students, especially young women, who aspire to be journalists.

• I have already bought a copy for the Commits library. But this is a book that you need to buy, place on your bookshelf, and read every time you need a fresh burst of inspiration.

Isn't there a difference between "who's" and "whose"?

OCCASIONAL RANT NO. 5:

The Times of India Crest Edition of June 30 features an interview with poet and author Jeet Thayil by Naomi Canton. Here's the paragraph I have a problem with:

"Sipping a glass of red wine in a French cafe amidst Oxford's dreaming spires where the production toured this week, the 52-year-old, who's first novel Narcopolis explores the drugs-filled underbelly of 1970s Mumbai, says: 'Don't these subjects interest you? They are in my top ten topics to write about, yes.' "

Doesn't anyone at the Times know the difference between "who's" and "whose"? How is it the subs did not catch the typo?

And while I am on the subject, why use "amidst" when "amid" will do?

An innovative and revolutionary short story series in "Mint Lounge"

Two weeks ago, one of my favourite weekend reads launched a fortnightly series on Indian poetry ("A serious attempt to give poetry the space it deserves").

Yesterday, in addition to publishing the second installment in the "Poetry Pradesh" series, Mint Lounge also featured an innovative and revolutionary short story column.

"Innovative" because the author, Kuzhali Manickavel, will write an original short story every month "inspired by prompts submitted by readers".

"Revolutionary" because, as far as I know, no publication has tried something as audacious before. Which story story writer is willing to risk his or her reputation in this manner? And which publication is willing to risk taking on the challenge of curating a series of this nature? Congratulations are in order, therefore, to both Manickavel and the editors of Mint Lounge.

Here is a short story in the series based on the prompt, "Flowers and other reproductive organs". Read it here: "To melt a snowman".

Want to submit your own prompt, which can be a word, phrase, quote, or brief idea? You can write to Manickavel at this e-mail address: shortstories@livemint.com. You can even tweet the prompt using the hashtag #kuzhalistories.

A question of illiteracy

OCCASIONAL RANT NO. 4:

Headline in the Economic Times, June 24 — "Why the big four Andhra Pradesh-based infrastructure companies GMR, GVK, Lanco & IVRCL are in trouble?"

That question mark at the end is a clear indication that an illiterate person was on duty on the ET desk that day. I have seen such headlines in regional newspapers, but in ET? This is a shocker.

That headline should have been written thus: "Why the big four Andhra Pradesh-based infrastructure companies GMR, GVK, Lanco & IVRCL are in trouble" (meaning, read this article to know why difficult times are looming for the four companies named).

OR, if a question mark was needed, thus: Why are the big four Andhra Pradesh-based infrastructure companies GMR, GVK, Lanco & IVRCL in trouble?

• Thank you, Ankana Sinha, for the alert.

Anurag Kashyap's tour de force

To truly appreciate — and understand — Gangs of Wasseypur and to prepare yourself to appreciate — and understand — the soon-to-be-released sequel, you need to watch the first part (and, presumably, Part 2, too) twice.

• The best review I have read of Gangs of Wasseypur is by Sanjukta Sharma in Mint. Here's an excerpt:

The director is at his pinnacle. Although much of the passage of years is unexplained and the middle slacks somewhat, Kashyap designs the film with such tenacious intelligence that we keep taking it all in. There aren’t many close-ups in the film, a tool usually used to hide the lack of thoughtful visualization. Every visual pulsates with the details of surroundings. So even without the obvious context, we plunge headlong. In routine action films, I often just switch off, and miss nothing. I couldn’t take my eyes off the sequences here, breathlessly following each scene. 

Read the review in its entirety here: "Explosive treat".

Starting trouble

Can a sentence begin with "and"? Are you allowed to begin a sentence with "but"? These are two questions I'm asked every year by our new students. And when I tell them, of course you can, they are sceptical. But this is not what is taught in school, they tell me.

What does one of the world's greatest newspapers, The New York Times, have to say on the issue? Yes, you CAN begin sentences with "and" and "but". Writing in a Times blog on usage and style, Philip B. Corbett asserts that “but” is preferable in many cases to the stilted “however,” and “and” is simpler than “in addition” or similar phrases.

Corbett, who is the associate managing editor for standards and also in charge of The Times’s style manual, has compiled, in one post, answers to some of the most common questions regarding grammar, usage, and style, including the following:

• ‘None’: Singular or plural?
• ‘Like’ or ‘Such as’?
• Are split infinitives acceptable?
• Should a sentence ever start with ‘and’?
• Is data singular or plural?
• Where’s the comma?

Follow the blog here: "After Deadline: Notes on Usage and Style".

Also read: "The most comma mistakes", by Ben Yagoda, who is a contributor to "Draft", The Times’s series about the art and craft of writing.

• And you must read "What our newspapers can learn from The New York Times".

Upliftment? UpliftMENT?

OCCASIONAL RANT NO. 3:

In The Times of India Crest Edition of June 23, Purnima Sharma interviews Salima Raza, writer and director of a new play about the great Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz and his Irish wife, Alys. Here is a quote from the interview:

"Their camaraderie was like a meeting of souls. Alys, like Faiz, was as intelligent, passionate and as committed to love as to their common cause — the upliftment of the poor and deprived, " says Raza.

That should be "uplift of the poor", madam.

• Also read: "Localite vs local; upliftment vs uplift".

Here are four ways to "quiet your presentation anxiety"

It can be unnerving for some youngsters to walk to the front of a room, or go up on stage, and make a presentation to twenty or thirty people, forget a few hundred, in the audience. Is there a way to quiet their anxiety? Yes indeed, writes Selena Rezvani on the Forbes website.

Rezvani, who recently had to present a workshop to more than a thousand women around the globe at a "webinar", says she began feeling the pressure as the event neared.

As the registration numbers climbed prior to the event, so did my anxiety. I fussed and fretted — and it wasn’t until I found a list I’d jotted down last year that I got my focus back; that list contained four strategies that I’d focused on and upheld during my best presentations.

Rezvani then shares those four strategies:

• Don’t be self-centered!
• Find your right rehearsal level
• Get right to it
• Think connection, not perfection

These are all excellent tips, which Rezvani elaborates on in her article. Check it out here.

• UPDATE (June 15, 2013): Here is a must-read piece by Vivek Wadhwa, a Stanford University scholar, which I happened to see on LinkedIn today: "How To Go From Being a Disaster—To a Great Speaker".

• UPDATE (September 20, 2013): Nancy Duarte, CEO of Duarte, an American company that specialises in "turning ideas into persuasive presentations", has this important advice to offer:

Let’s clear something up: you, as the presenter or speaker, are not the most important guy/girl in the room.

Just because you’re on a stage or in front of a crowd does not make you the savior everyone has been waiting for. (This applies whether you are addressing a conference of ten thousand or holding a team meeting with three people.)

Recognize that you are Yoda, not Luke.

The most important people in the room are your audience: make them the heroes of your story. Defer to them, because if they don’t engage and believe in your message, you are the one who loses. Without their help, your idea will fail. Become the mentor in their story and whisper guidance in their ear, empowering them to be the agents of change and achieve greatness.

Read Duarte's post in its entirety here: "Like Yoda You Must Be" (I hope you have watched the Star Wars movies, or know about this cultural phenomenon.)

• UPDATE (November 7, 2013): If you are serious about becoming good at public speaking, you should think seriously about enrolling for this free online course offered by the University of Washington on Coursera: "Introduction to Public Speaking, by Dr. Matt McGarrity". (To learn more about Coursera and Massive Open Online Courses, read this post: "How would you like to take the world's best courses, online, for free?")

A serious attempt to give poetry the space it deserves

Mint Lounge has just launched a fortnightly series that is sure to warm the cockles of the hearts of poets and poetry lovers everywhere. "Poetry Pradesh", which will bring readers "stories about publishing, writing, and preserving poetry", is a serious attempt to give space to an art form that many Indian publications ignore.

In the inaugural column published earlier this month, Rajni George admits that selling poetry is tough. She writes:

Being ignored as well as sometimes blindly adored by the masses is the birthright of poetry. Even dedicated readers do not always have time for it. Out of everyone reading the books pages, a few might read this piece.

However, George asserts, poetry is still a vocal player in its tough corner of the market and she then puts the spotlight on a small group of publishers who, as she says, comprise India’s independent poetry scene today.

Read the piece in its entirety here: "Limited edition".

You can also savour two poems here, one by Adil Jussawalla, and the other by Tenzin Tsundue.

• You may also like to read Aakar Patel's scintillating explanation of why Gulzar and Javed Akhtar need to be considered among the  great poets of Urdu, alongside Mir, Ghalib, Iqbal, and Faiz:  "The list isn't complete".

• UPDATE (July 1, 2012): In the second column in the "Poetry Pradesh" series, Gayatri Jayaraman puts the spotlight on the lack of poetry archives in India. Also on offer: Two poems from Adil Jussawalla's archive.